Over the past several years, the debate over the efficacy and implementation of the Affordable Care Act has highlighted the deep divides in the U.S. over the need for, and cost of, the entire social welfare net in the U.S. All this might have got you wondering about the roots and history of social welfare in its many forms in […]
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David asks: Why is the second “C” capitalized in names like “MacCleod”? The short story is that “Mc” and “Mac” are prefixes that mean “son of.” Early inconsistencies in records are what led to having both Mc and Mac prefixes. Mc is just an abbreviation of Mac, and both can actually be abbreviated further to the much less common M’. […]
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Today in History: February 26, 1954 Rock and roll had barely shot off the launching pad when “concerned” citizens and politicians began rallying to nip this scourge on decent society in the bud. One of the first to (apparently) suffer from a wooden object lodged up their backside over music you couldn’t waltz to was a Republican Congresswoman from Michigan […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn how the practice of putting Bibles in hotel rooms got its start. This episode is brought you you by audible.com. Audible is offering listeners of this podcast a free audiobook and a 30 day trial membership if you sign up via this link. Among the 150,000+ audio books you can find on audible, […]
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Jennifer asks: I’ve read that vaccines cause autism and that they don’t. What’s the truth with this? In 1998, there was a groundbreaking study telling parents that their children were at risk of getting autism from vaccines. Parents everywhere collectively gasped. After all, they had been told for years vaccines were the best way to prevent any number of unwanted […]
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The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is such a staple of American childhood these days that it seems like it’s been around, well, forever. In fact, it took a surprisingly long time after all the necessary ingredients were invented for someone to put them together, and several decades more before doing this became popular. In fact, there are people alive […]
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Today in History: February 25, 1972 Paul McCartney had always been careful to remain fairly apolitical and uncontroversial when writing his songs. He felt his job was to entertain, not preach, and had made several not-so-veiled jabs at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s almost constant use of their fame as a soapbox to promote political causes they believed in. So […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about why a baker’s dozen is 13 instead of 12. Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Our resident medical expert, Scott, and a buddy of his recently started The Medicine Journal, where you can learn all sorts of interesting facts about all things medical related. Below is their third video. If you like it, please subscribe to their YouTube channel here If you liked this video, you might also enjoy: What Causes Migraines The Great Chicago […]
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In 1967, the Beatles filmed their only made-for-TV movie. It was called “Magical Mystery Tour“. The film itself is an interesting, checkered, odd little movie directed and edited by the Beatles themselves. It was, basically, the boys riding out in the country on a “magical mystery tour” bus with an eclectic bunch of characters. They just rode around and filmed […]
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This is an excerpt from our new book: The Wise Book of Whys, available in: Print | Kindle | Nook | Audiobook One Moon “day” is approximately 29 1/2 Earth days. This rotation coincides with its orbit around the Earth so that we only see about 59% of the surface of the Moon from Earth. When the Moon first formed, […]
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Today in History: February 24, 1208 St. Francis of Assisi didn’t always live what one would consider a saintly life. His dad was a wealthy merchant, and Francis was very fond of wearing expensive duds, getting into street fights and hanging out with other privileged kids. Even so, he showed a concern for the poor and sick that was highly […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Difference Between Brown and White Eggs There are all sorts of rumours surrounding brown eggs and white eggs. Some people say that brown eggs are better for you and contain more nutrients; some people think brown eggs taste better; some think […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn the origin of the Olympic torch relay and the tradition of the Olympic flame. Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Imagine for a moment that it’s 40,000 years in the future in a solar system far, far, away on a planet thriving with intelligent life. Extraterrestrial beings inhabit this place. Perhaps they look like the cuddly ET, the blob, ALF, or maybe even like the dreadlocked beings from Predator; but either way, they are not human. An approaching speck in […]
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David vs. Goliath. Burr vs. Hamilton. Ali vs. Frazier. These fights have captured the public’s imagination like few others. On March 20, 1992, another battle entered this conversation. Herwald vs. Kelleher. Okay, so most likely, you probably don’t have any clue who Kurt Herwald and Herb Kelleher are and why they decided to match up against one another, but you […]
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Today in History: February 21, 1431 It would seem highly improbable that a simple peasant girl from a small village in France would have better name recognition 600 hundred years later than the reigning kings of the time. But Joan of Arc, who only lived to be 19 years old, already had the stature of a mythological figure while she […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn the fascinating origin of the Olympic Rings. Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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